Labour demands inquiry into Kids Company closure
Neil Puffett
Friday, August 7, 2015
The government is coming under pressure to order an independent inquiry into the collapse of children's charity Kids Company, with questions being asked about what it knew about the collapse of the organisation.
Labour's shadow children's minister Steve McCabe told CYP Now that government needs to "come clean" on funding arrangements for Kids Company and its involvement in the closure.
His colleague Jon Ashworth, the party's shadow Cabinet Office minister called for an official probe, saying "serious questions" need to be asked of government about how the charity, which closed on Wednesday evening, failed.
"If they were worried about Kids Company [prior to closure], why didn't they act to put it in a sustainable footing," Ashworth said to the BBC.
"Let's have an inquiry and let's get the answers."
News of the closure of Kids Company on Wednesday came just weeks after chief executive Camila Batmanghelidjh agreed to step down in order to secure £3m in Cabinet Office funding to enable the organisation to restructure.
Steve McCabe said government must be upfront around the circumstances surrounding the closure.
"What I find a bit hard to understand is how they have gone bust so quickly after apparently being given £3m," he said.
"There seems to be a complete absence of facts.
"Government needs to come clean and give a statement on everything it knows."
McCabe's call for answers comes after he wrote to children's minister Edward Timpson earlier this week to ask about the way government contracts were transferred following the collapse of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).
He said: "Charities are under enormous financial pressure and are being asked to do more with less.
"There seems to be a pattern developing, as we saw in the case of BAAF, of government saying 'this is our money and we will deal with it as we see fit'."
"That seems to me to be the sign of a government lurching from one badly thought-out plan to another."
Speaking to the BBC today, Prime Minister David Cameron defended the decision to give Kids Company an additional grant of £3m.
"The government thought it was the right thing to do to give this charity one last chance of restructuring and making sure it could continue its excellent work," he said.
"Sadly, that didn't happen, not least because of the allegations that were made and private donors withdrawing their money.
"But I think the government was right to say let's try to keep this charity going, given the excellent work it has done for so many young people."
